


lay my curses out to rest, make a mercy out of me

by kazki



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Angels & Demons, Angel!Atsumu, Angel/Demon Relationship, Falling In Love, Hopeful Ending, M/M, Pining Atsumu, Strangers to Friends to Lovers, demon!hinata, might be a little forbidden love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-22
Updated: 2020-02-22
Packaged: 2021-02-28 04:47:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,524
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22838056
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kazki/pseuds/kazki
Summary: “Maybe.” he replies with whatever stupid pride he has left in his chest that allows him to speak like this. “I’d look after you.”He doesn’t regret it, because Shouyou seems just as stupidly prideful or in his case stupidly honest, because he grins like he did the first time they’d met on the hillside and leans forward close enough to whisper, “Well, then, I’ll be in your care, angel,”And, it sounds like a promise, between the both of them in the pocket of space they’ve created in a world neither of them belongs to.In which, Atsumu should really know the rules of the heavens as a 3000 year old angel, and he should most likely not be willing to risk it all for a cute demon he's just met.
Relationships: Hinata Shouyou/Miya Atsumu
Comments: 18
Kudos: 181





	lay my curses out to rest, make a mercy out of me

**Author's Note:**

> this was inspired by: [atsuhinas](https://twitter.com/atsuhinas/status/1222927288624267265?s=20) art on twitter! the au they drew is soo amazing, atsuhina look so good! u should check out all their other atsuhina too <33
> 
> > the title is a lyric taken from the song 'curses' by the crane wives (it's so good)
> 
> anyway, I hope you enjoy this!!

Over hill, over dale, through the valley and vale  
Do not weep, do not wail, I am coming home to you  
— the oh hellos, ‘thus always to tyrants’

☾

Some people would say Atsumu avoiding his responsibilities by eating sweets on a hillside in the middle of a valley he’s never been bothered to learn the name of would be stupid, or irresponsible, or a waste or time.

Those people would be wrong, and boring. 

Atsumu doesn’t usually care too much about the rules, there’s too many and he’s not been tested on them since his last year of training to become a service angel. He hadn’t cared too much about them then either, but he had to know them to pass, and to pass would appease his parents' wishes. 

But now, on the hillside, when a dark aura starts cultivating itself in the atmosphere, he only sighs and runs one of his hands through his hair, tugging at the end. 

The rule book probably states that he should signal for help, or at the very least, turn around and avoid any interaction. He does neither — he’s long since forgotten the annoyingly long list of rules the elders forced him to learn while a trainee angel, while he was in school over 2500 years ago. 

How could they expect him to care enough to remember them now? 

Instead, Atsumu slips the lollipop back into his mouth and watches from where he is sitting on a small hill as the pool of black energy progresses into a dark red at the centre. 

The wind around him picks up the second a figure starts rising through the pool, and god he knows his hair is going to be a mess now. 

But, then he watches, frozen to his seat on the patch of grass with his eyes wide and lollipop falling from his lips.

God, it really is a demon. Osamu is going to kill him, he thinks, eyes wide and lips tugging up at the ends. It’s a demon he doesn’t think he’s ever seen before, one who’s younger than him — definitely shorter — with hair a bright orange, and two long black horns breaking through the unstyled curls, mocking him or his impending punishment. 

“You’re very far from home, little demon,” Atsumu hums, letting his wings spread out for balance as he finally stands up. The demon seems to jump at his voice, and a wave of amusement washes over him as their own wings flare and a pair of red eyes settle on him. “Lost?”

It takes a second for the demon to react, and it leaves Atsumu shaken with surprise and one thought: there is no way this guy is any ordinary demon he’s messed with before. Each time, he takes steps back where Atsumu takes steady steps forward, until he’s close enough to properly make out his face. 

“Oh!” the demon sighs, wings dropping before he breaks out into a grin, “Hey there! I’m Hinata Shouyou!” 

Atsumu feels his eye twitch. Did he just...greet him properly? “Excuse me?” 

The demon steps forward again, almost bouncing into each one as he closes the distance he had created. And, then he’s smiling even wider — wide enough for his eyes to scrunch and crinkle at the corners, and the unnatural fangs demons often have to be on show.

“I’m not lost, don’t worry,” he says, bowing slightly for some reason. “Thank you for your concern though!”

His eyes are kind on Atsumu and it makes him avoid looking at his face for too long. “Miya Atsumu, just call me by my first name.” 

When Atsumu doesn’t say anything after that, they fall into silence but it’s one he can’t call awkward but not comfortable either. 

Shouyou is the first one to break it, eager to fill in the spaces in between a conversation. “What are you doing here?”

What is he doing here, he questions himself in his head. It’s the middle of the night and he’s sitting on a hillside — now with a demon — with no real reason to be here other than not having any other reason to be anywhere else. 

There is grass beneath his hands, warm strands between his fingers and he moves to pick at it but accidentally knocks his hand into Shouyou’s thin black tail, turning the part he touched a painfully bright red. Oh. Oh, it’s kind of pretty. 

“I just came here to get away.” He finally settles on saying. He’s still not meeting Shouyou’s eyes though, too busy watching the red fade back to black and itching to touch again. “Relax maybe, watch the stars.” 

Shouyou doesn’t mention the tail thing. 

“Really?” he says instead, voice as chirp as it’s been since they’ve met. “Are you not here on a job?”

A job, he was, he should have reported back by now if he’s being honest. 

He doesn’t want to yet.

“What about you?” he avoids the question and asks instead. But the little demon’s — Shouyou his mind supplies a second later — eyebrows scrunch together as he looks him over.

Before he can complain, Atsumu gives in, sighing as he works up a smile. “I was, but I finished.”

“Was it fun? What was it? Did you help anyone?” The questions come one after each other without a breath in between. And, he looks so happy, so interested, so focused on Atsumu and just him that he would be stupid not to indulge. 

So, Atsumu allows himself to be swept up in it. “It was just watching over someone for a day while their angel was ill.” 

“Angels get sick?” he asks, mouth twisting in question.

He’s only been really ill a handful of times, but he hates it more than anything, being confined to the bed when he doesn’t actually want to be lazy and skip out on things is not fun.

“Demons don’t?” he asks in return, he’s sure Kenma has disappeared to the dark realm once or twice to look after his boyfriend, Kuroo. “That’s so unfair.”

Shouyou laughs at that, and he can tell he’s someone who laughs often, freely, because it takes over his face and body so easily. “No, we do but it’s rare.” he manages between smiles, “I’ve only been sick twice in 2000 years.” 

The kind eyes are there again, and he turns his gaze to the point past Shouyou’s head. He really is trying not to stare so hard but there’s something bright about his face that he’s not seen in a long time in heaven and it’s taking his own god-given light right from under his feet. 

It’s unfair. “We can get sick if there is too much conflict in the people we’re watching over,” 

“Oh! That just shows how good of a heart you have, right?” Shouyou nods, and then he’s shifting backwards until he’s sitting by his side on the same patch of grass.“But, I hope you don’t get sick, Atsumu!”

“Don’t worry, I don’t hang around humans too much.” he coughs into his hand, this is so weird. “And, why are you even botherin’ to wish me well, you know you’re a demon right?” 

“That doesn’t mean I can’t be a good and kind one!” 

There’s a shift in the atmosphere until it feels crackly and delicate. It only takes a second for him to realise he shouldn’t have said that. 

“Hm, whatever!” he mumbles awkwardly, his wings curling in.“I guess so.”

Shouyou shakes his head and opens his mouth to say something before his eyes catch onto something else other than trying to meet Atsumu’s own. The moment he looks away, Atsumu lets out the air trapped in his lungs he hadn’t even realised was there. 

“Oh hey!” Shouyou shouts, pointing his finger towards the sky. “It’s starting!” 

When he follows and looks up there are bright white lights streaming across the sky above them. And, it’s been so long since he’s watched the stars or any celestial event from earth that he’s forgotten how pretty it is to see if from the ground.

“Oh, a meteor shower…” he mumbles, wilting, his voice hushed. “Is this what you came to watch?” 

“Yeah! Isn’t it amazing?” Shouyou “You see, I missed the last time one happened because I was summoned for a few jobs, which really sucked.” 

“But at least I get to watch this one with you, hah!” Shouyou hums and tips his head back, nearly onto Atsumu’s shoulder so they can make eye contact. Atsumu refuses to look. 

“Doesn’t it suck watching it with me?” 

“Wha, because you’re an angel?” Shouyou questions, as if he hadn’t even considered it. “No, I don’t think that kind of thing matters, only the older people really care about that now!” 

“I’m friends with lots of angels” he adds a second later, and Atsumu wonders who, who’s been keeping this little demon a secret. “Besides, it’s pretty, right?” 

“Yeah, it’s pretty.” Atsumu settles on saying, and Shouyou seems happy enough to accept it because he leans into him again, his tail falling over Atsumu’s hand in the grass and begins to whisper about the stories he’s been told of the stars.

He listens to every word, how could he not?

Shouyou continues talking right up until the meteor shower passes and Atsumu is left thinking about how he is truly going to get killed, and how the aura of a demon will be all over him. 

And then, also a second later, too bad he doesn’t have the slightest care.

☾

It’s not until late into the evening, after he’s reported back on the outcome of his summoning does Osamu knock his wing into his.

He’d been summoned today too and messed around for a while before coming to report back as well. “You stink,” he announces, dryly. 

“I robbed some of Bokuto’s cologne this morning.” Atsumu hums in reply. He knows what he means, and he knows that Oasamu isn’t unobservant enough to not notice him evading the subject.

“Rob a stronger one next time.”

Atsumu wrinkles his nose as Osamu’s aura begins to pour out at a much heavy scent. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, you’re worrying too much!”

_“Really?”_

“Really, for real, promise, with all my honour.” he drawls, “All the good words everyone likes to hear.”

“Interesting, because Bokuto was in the human world too and you know how loose his mouth is around Akaashi.” Osamu hums, he’s not mad or annoyed, he’s probably more curious than anything. The last time Osamu had been involved with someone, Atsumu was definitely curious and yes, it was Bokuto’s mouth that led him to find out too. 

But that was months ago, and hadn’t worked out as more than a short fling.

“Oh, we all know,” Atsumu smiles, then pushes a wing into Osamu’s as they continue walking down the steps of the main hall. “Since when do you trust him over me?” 

“There is no demon on Bokuto.” 

“What?!” Atsumu can’t argue with a response like that, but he wouldn’t be himself if he didn’t try to. “It’s common knowledge that he’s friends with that irritating demon Kuroo!” 

Kuroo was half-demon, and half-angel and so a majority of the angels didn’t care about him wandering into heaven to visit his family or his boyfriend, he was raised here after all. However, he had to choose when he came of age, if he wanted to be more of an angel or more of a demon in service — as all those that were born half have to — and he’d picked a demon. 

Sometimes, there are days when he can understand why he did. 

Being a demon is less pressure, fewer lessons on what is good and bad because of rule, after rule, after rule — both he and Osamu slept through most of those lessons but still. Those are the days he disappears from this realm, only coming back when summoned. 

He’s met with a sigh but a nod of agreement. “True, by the way, Kuroo is actually coming over to cook dinner today.” 

“Thank you and thank god for him, sometimes.” Atsumu smiles sheepishly, and tries not to think about why the view of the sun setting is making him think of Shouyou greeting him with a too honest, bashful grin on the hillside.

☾

Atsumu wishes he could say that he forgot about Shouyou, the hillside and the meteor shower but he would be lying to himself.

He does however, not plan on seeing him again — there’s no way for them to contact each other. 

But, a week later, when Atsumu is sitting on the same hillside with his wings spread out on the grass underneath him and the lights of fireworks from some human celebrating painting the sky, Shouyou finds him again. 

“Atsumu!” 

He props himself up off the ground as the voice gets closer to him. “Little demon?” 

And then, hovering over him, upside down, is Shouyou with the same grin on his lips. “Hey, y’know I’m really not little at all!” 

“Sure, sure,” he hums, “Do you love the human world that much to be coming back so soon?” 

Shouyou nods, taking a seat on the grass next to him and then leaning back to lay down. Before his head touches the grass, Atsumu shifts so that his wing is underneath it. He doesn’t know why, or even realises he was doing it until Shouyou is looking at him with red cheeks. “Don’t you have curses to be putting on the rowdy people in your book.”

“That’s totally a rumour! We don’t curse people, well...most of us don’t but sometimes the big bosses get angry and Sakusa just holds grudges for centuries.”

That name makes him listen properly again. _Sakusa._

“Oh, Omi Omi?” he hums, like there isn’t a chill running down his spine. “I haven’t seen him in a while.” 

Before Shouyou can speak again, another set of fireworks go off in the distance, so he pauses, and waits while watching them but Atsumu keeps his eyes trained on the curve of his jawline. 

He doesn’t look away when Shouyou turns back, instead, he smiles, waiting for him to do so. 

“Yeah, he mentioned that when he felt your aura on me last time.” 

“He did?” Atsumu asks, shocked. “Well, he was probably happy you were hanging around someone like me.”

“Nope!” he replies, voice taking an edge of amusement. “He told me if he feels it again, he’ll definitely and I quote curse him until he learns to keep his hands to himself and that pretty boy mouth where it belongs.” 

“Oh,” 

“I’m sure he’s joking, he can be protective because I’m younger than him. But, I like you so far, so don’t mind him!”

“Oh,” Atsumu says again, this time more inclined to a flirty edge to his tone, “You do?”

“Of course! Although, I’ve never met an angel who doesn’t care about humans.” and it’s said with so much more honesty that he’s left feeling like the fireworks and his heartbeat are both as loud as each other as they ring in his ears. 

He’s not sure if Shouyou purposefully ignores his tone of voice or if he’s that oblivious that he goes straight over his head. It could be either. Both are not a good outcome for him.

He closes his eyes, again after that but Shouyou doesn’t leave. Instead, he stays with his head resting on Atsumu’s wing and more space than Atsumu would like between their bodies.

☾

“Oh, hey twin number two!” Kuroo says, and then stops, before continuing. “How have you been?”

He’s sitting on the kitchen side with Kenma standing between his thighs, they were probably talking about whether they should stay in for lunch or sneak out and it’s become such a regular occurrence that nobody in the room questions it — nobody being him, Akaashi, Bokuto and Osamu.

The laptop is playing from the island in the middle of the kitchen, and so he pays attention to that instead. 

“What are you watching?” he says in lieu of a reply to Kuroo, taking the empty seat next to Akaashi. 

“The mortals have been obsessed with this new show, so we decided to see what’s keeping their short attention spans this time,” Akaashi replies, sliding a glass across the counter and filling it up with something Atsumu thinks is probably alcohol that Kuroo managed to sneak in. 

He thanks him quietly, and let’s him continue speaking.“Last time was a terrible mistake, but I have to admit, this is interesting.”

“That’s because last time we let ‘samu, Kuroo and Bokkun pick,” he says, bringing the glass up to his lips and slipping. Yeah, definitely alcohol. 

Bokuto reaches around Akaashi to slap him on his back, making him nearly choke over his drink. “Oi, we were tryna pick this time too but you were too busy passing out from coming in at 2 AM last night.” 

2 am is a bit of an exaggeration, he thinks, he was definitely in before two, maybe around 1:30 am. 

But, before he can defend himself, Kenma clears his throat, twisting around between Kuroo’s thighs as everyone turns to look at him, “You woke me up.”

Kuroo smiles down at him, and Atsumu watches as he rests his chin on his head before speaking. “Why were you coming in so late anyway?”

It’s a passing thought, one he shouldn’t be having but it sits heavy at the front of his mind: their height is, similar to his and Shouyou, he could potentially do that too. 

“So,” Kuroo adds, when there is no answer. 

Atsumu twirls the empty glass around over and over on the table, he doesn’t speak and the cold feels nice against his overworked fingers.

Osamu answers for him anyway, a smile lazy over his features. “He was out with a boy again,” 

Sometimes, he wishes he didn’t have a brother. Only sometimes, they’ve always been together of course, that comes with being twins he guesses. This is one of those times, he thinks, as he glares over at him where he’s hovering at the door. 

“Oh, oh.” Bokuto shouts, leaning forward to stare at him. “The demon one again?”

Kenma’s eyes flick up at that, fingers curling around Kuroo’s. “ _A demon?_ ” 

Atsumu looks away.

“Shut up, it’s nothing,” he mumbles, glaring harder at Osamu, who shrugs in return. “It’s nothing we just ran into each other again.”

This isn’t fair, he decides, grabbing the bottle of alcohol and refilling his glass. Akaashi lets him, Kuroo laughs and Osamu sighs. Good. 

And, then, Kuroo adds, just to make matters worse, “I knew it’d be you first out of you and your brother to get involved with a demon! we had a bet going!”

He slides further into his seat and brings the refilled glass back up to his lips. 

(He’s not that predictable, is he?)

☾

Whether it’s a blessing or a curse, he’s not sure, but by some means he and Shouyou continue to find each other while on earth. He’s never outright looking for him, but if he hangs around where there is a demon's aura building up or lingering, then, that's just for him to know and for Shouyou to think is a coincidence.

Like, right now, he’s resting on a rooftop while Shouyou finishes his job. If he was being honest with himself, he had wanted to watch him work but Shouyou had said no and pushed him away with a smile on his lips and his tail knocking into his hip. 

“I’ll be ten minutes,” he said about fifteen minutes ago, not that Atsumu’s counting, but he is. 

It’s just that, he loves watching demons, they’re much more interesting than other angels most of the time — personality wise and the kinds of jobs they get assigned. 

“You look really pretty like this.” is the thing that breaks him out of his own thoughts, too distracted with them to notice that Shouyou has arrived, and already kneeling down beside him. 

The words are so unexpected they leave him with no air left in his lungs and his heart sitting tightly in his throat. Atsumu watches him for a second, and he’s close enough to see the moment in which Shouyou catches up with what he said because his smile falls into a panicked, bashful wobble.

“Shouyou…” he manages, but it’s whispered so softly into the night breeze that they don’t feel tethered to the moment. “What are you saying?”

“Nothing, nothing!” he shouts, hand coming up to cover his face. “It’s nothing!”

Atsumu cuts in, the pounding of his chest settling enough for him to think over it. “I could say the same about you.”

Shouyou is sitting at the juncture of Atsumu’s hip now, red dusted over his cheeks and the tips of his ears from where he looks at him through the gaps in his fingers. Atsumu “Like right now.”

“Ahhhh, be quiet!” 

“You spoke first, Shouyou!” he laughs, just because he doesn’t know what else to say. 

Shouyou frowns at him in response, but it’s more of a pout with the way his face scrunches. Then, without another word he turns to lay down on the rooftop next to him, and Atsumu, without a word spreads out his wing for him to rest his head on — it’s becoming a habit he doesn’t ever want to break.

“You’ve been coming to the mortal world more often.” Shouyou says once he’s comfortable, and at some point they stopped caring about the space in between them and took to pressing closer and closer together each time they met. 

Atsumu huffs out a puff of air, and turns to look at him, ignoring the way their thighs press together. “There has been a reason for me to come back more often recently.” 

“Oh! have you been assigned someone to watch over? I wish we could do that!”

Atsumu hums, of course Shouyou would think like that, “I haven’t been anyone’s guardian angel for years.”

“What, why?” 

If he’s being honest, it’s because he finds it boring, and he doesn’t want to waste his days watching a baby crawl around on the carpet. He wouldn’t mind being the guardian of someone who was already older and Atsumu could actually watch do interesting things, like go to work if they were a doctor, or played a sport and he got to see them train — he could pick up some new skills that way, he has before. 

“I guess nobody needs an angel like me.” he says, watching for Shouyou’s reaction. “Plus, the last person who I was a guardian for was a queen, I have high expectations, y’know.”

It’s not a lie. The last person he was assigned was originally a princess and over the years, he watched her grow into a queen. She lived a nice life, peaceful and rich as most humans wish to be for most of the years he was looking over her but there were times when she had to make hard decisions in the name of her country and people. 

It wouldn't have been so bad, he thinks, if those decisions did not lead to conflict, and that conflict didn’t lead to his falling the illest he has ever been. He had been so ill Osamu had begun preparing for the worst — that’s what he was told to do, anyway, though Atsumu isn't sure he really did. 

Shouyou leans closer, his hand coming to grip at some of the feathers that make up Atsumu’s wing. It doesn’t hurt, but it does make him startle slightly. “Do you think you’d lower them for me?” 

“Huh?” 

“If I was a human I’d pray for an angel like you.” he says, so tenderly, Atsumu doesn’t believe that it’s not a hallucination. “So, do you think so?” 

“Oh.”

And that’s such a Shouyou question isn’t it, he decides, sucking his bottom lip into his mouth. He’s quiet for what he thinks is probably a long time, angling his head to look up at the stars, but he finds the clouds are heavy tonight so, there isn’t much there for him to see. There’s nothing, there’s no proof of heaven from here and there’s no proof of hell. 

If they didn’t have such distinctive features would they even be able to prove they were angel and demon, or could they just be anything they wanted to be. He’d like that, he thinks, no, he knows — to just be anywhere and anything else. 

Finally, Atsumu clears his throat, loling his head back to look at Shouyou. “I don’t think I’d need to lower them for you.”

“What? So you wouldn’t have me.” he groans, but he’s joking, he can tell that much. There’s a hint of mischief in his aura that Atsumu halo reacts to it with a glint of light. “Atsumu...you’re too mean.”

Atsumu scoots a little closer to him, and curls his wings around the both of them. “I mean, you would be someone important if you were a human.”

“Oh...like a prince?” Shouyou’s voice comes out unsteady, nervous maybe when he settles a hand on Atsumu’s chest and lets the wings cover them.

“Maybe.” he replies with whatever stupid pride he has left in his chest to allow him to speak like this. “I’d look after you.” 

He doesn’t regret it, because Shouyou seems just as stupidly prideful or in his case stupidly honest, because he grins like he did the first time they’d met on the hillside and leans forward, close enough to whisper, “Well, then, I’ll be in your care, angel,” 

And, it sounds like a promise, between the both of them in the pocket of space they’ve created in a world neither of them belongs to. 

It sounds like a promise he wouldn’t mind binding his heart to live by forever. 

The second he’s gone later that night — being summoned for a small job along with one of his friends, Kageyama — and Atsumu is once again alone on the rooftop, he squeezes his eyes shut. 

_Shit, shit, damn,_ repeats on a look in his mind for what feels like ten minutes, laying with his back against the floor and watching the passing of planes go by. 

Heaven is so far away from here, there’s not even a hint of it — he’s never understood how humans can live without knowing what will come next, but he thinks he probably wouldn’t mind that, if he was human. It would be nice to just live rather than be a fantasy or myth.

His back is beginning to ache when the ten-minute mark passes by, and it’s probably disgustingly dirty and his white jacket and wings are going to suffer for it, but his heart is too loud in his chest for common sense to ring through. 

“Shit,” Atsumu chokes aloud, when the brush of Shouyou’s hand through his hair comes to the front of his mind again. He pushes off the wall a second later and cringes at the wet feeling of his back. “What am I doing?”

☾

There’s a two week gap where he doesn’t have time to descend to the human world and he isn’t summoned with orders to do so either. Osamu says it’s because the elders are either too busy dealing with other angel’s to think of them or they have matched Atsumu with a human and are giving him a rest period before he’s thrown in the deep end again.

Privately, he hopes it’s the first one. He’s not been someone’s guardian angel for more than a week at a time in hundreds of years and they’ve been the best years he’s ever lived. 

Akaashi falls ill on the weekend of the second week and with Bokuto trying his best to nurse him back to health — he doesn’t know how well that’s going but he walked in on both of them passed out on their bed under three different blankets last night — Atsumu offers to look over Akaashi’s human couple until he’s better. 

It’s an unexpected offer, he knows, but he’s getting tired of being stuck in heaven. 

That, and with any luck on his side, maybe the heaven’s will luck down on him with kind eyes, good hearts, blessing and let him run into Shouyou while he’s spending time in the mortal realm. He can only hope. 

Kuroo says he’s been moping every time he’s come over, Atsumu begs to differ. 

“Hey!” comes Shouyou’s voice, bright and fresh as always. “Sorry I want to greet you properly but we have some things to do!”

Atsumu pauses from where he’s flying over city rooftops, hovering in the air and looking around to find out where the voice has come from. On a rooftop behind him, he spots Shouyou standing on the ledge, waving his arms above his head at him — behind him is someone he has not seen in a long time.

Sakusa.

He’s far enough away that he doesn’t stop the smile from crossing his lips. 

“Ah, little demon!” he says, flying lower until he’s hovering in front of the rooftop, and slightly looking down over Shouyou. He looks cute today, Atsumu thinks. “It’s been a while.”

He looks cute in everything he’s seen him in before, but he does especially love his outfit today. The cropped t-shirt and jacket keep making his eyes dip down but with Sakusa watching from over Shouyou’s shoulder he shakes off the ache to settle his hand on Shouyou’s lower back and instead, smiles. 

“I know!” Shouyou laughs, reaching a hand up to push a few strands of Atsumu’s hair away from his eyes, and Atsumu sucks in a sharp breath. “I missed you!”

There’s a gagging, sort of strangling sound from behind them and he knows who it is, and so, he whispers back, his hand catching Shouyou as he’s pulling it away. “How embarrassing, I missed you too.”

In some other universe, or timeline Atsumu would be able to say that those words came out smoothly and not as if he was choking over mouthfuls of flowers, or the ocean, or honey, or anything sweet — anything Shouyou. 

Shouyou groans, face taking a ruddy red colour when Atsumu offers him a one-shoulder shrug and a smile but then, he grins down at him. “I’ll see you soon again, I promise!”

 _Good._ Good, because he’s not sure how much longer he can wait really. He’s not sure how much longer until Kenma gets tired of him falling face-first onto his bed and complaining and decides to strangle him. Or worse, decides to have Kuroo strangle him. 

“You really have not changed,” Sakusa calls to him, voice flat other than a hint of familiarity and annoyance. This is their way of showing each other affection after all the years they’ve known each other. “Please change at least a little.”

“If I changed, who would be your graceful guardian angel?” Atsumu calls back, making sure his halo lets off a glint of a glow and Sakusa squints at him in disgust, “You love me.” 

Aw, he might have missed him, Atsumu broods. 

“I do not.” is the second to last thing he hears before they disappear, the last being a light and airy laugh from Shouyou that makes Atsumu’s halo glint brighter without him even realising. 

He tries not to think about what that means on his ascent back to heaven.

(He knows what it means.)

☾

The next time Atsumu runs into a demon, it’s not Shouyou and they’re not at all cute.

“Hey, hey, double trouble.” Kuroo’s voice carries through the room as he walks in through the unlocked front door. 

Osamu is faster to reply, snorting and shaking his head as he throws one of the pillows tucked under him on the sofa he’s sprawled out on, at Kuroo’s head. Without looking, he blocks it with his tail before it hits him. “That’s worse than the whole thing one, thing two thing you had going last time.” 

Atsumu might be a little dramatic when he closes his eyes, and prays for heaven to fall just to stop Kuroo from showing up. But well, it’s unfair that one demon gets a pass while the others — just Shouyou really— are shunned. “I thought you had to be invited in?” 

He’s met with two different laughs and he can’t help himself when he lets out a small chuckle too, before turning back to the gaming device in his hands.

There’s the sound of the door shutting, and he ignores it not looking up until there’s a shuffling sound in front of him. Atsumu groans and flicks his eyes up and down between the game screen and Kuroo looking over him as he plays. 

“God, you can have a turn next, try and beat my high score.” He pauses, gaze flitting up one more time, which was a mistake now that he has longer than a second to take the other in while the game reloaded. “Do you have to dress like that around my house?” Atsumu lets out a little puff of air. 

Kuroo is wearing mostly black, as most demons opt to do, which is fine he supposes, the colour looks good on them with what colour variations of red their eyes are and the black of their wings. That’s not an issue, the issue is the sheer mesh long sleeve top Kuroo is walking around in with nothing underneath. 

“Do you like what you see?” Kuroo smirks, walking over to throw the pillow back at Osamu and drop on the space left on the end of the sofa. He turns to Atsumu again when he’s shifted in the seat a few times, probably uncomfortable with the way his wings rub against the pillows — he hates it too but his brother loves to pass out there for naps. “and what, the whole of heaven is your house?” 

No, he wants to wear it himself but of course, there is probably a rule against it and sure his pride lets him break a few minor ones, that he can brush over but he doesn’t know which will get him pushed from heaven. That, and he squints or at least just not Kuroo. “Yeah but you keep breaking in.” 

Kuroo laughs at that, head tipped back against the back of the sofa and for some reason, it reminds him of two days ago when Shouyou was leaning on him, head thrown back and tears in his eyes as his shoulders shook.

It’s as clear in his mind as the seconds after it had just happened, the warmth of his skin still traced onto Atusmu’s and lingering remains of his aura still clinging to his. 

Before Kuroo replies and Atsumu thinks of something to steer the conversation from the touch of a boy he is most likely going to get cursed for wanting to be anything more than a name or a face, Akaashi walks in the room, interrupting, “Leave him alone, he’s here to see his boyfriend.”

“Where is Kenma?” 

“Napping, anyway,” Kuroo says, shrugging, then he leans forward in his seat, resting his elbow on his leg and then his chin on his hand. His eyes are a mocking red and his lips are twisting in a way that makes the temperature in the room drop. “A little ginger birdy told me some very interesting things back in the dark realm.” 

“You can say the h-word here, man, it’s okay we won’t pass out.” Bokuto laughs, following in behind Akaashi as they cross through the room and into the kitchen.

Kuroo laughs, kicking the back of Bokuto’s legs as he passes by. “It feels wrong for some reason, like I’m swearing in front of a baby.” 

Atsumu wants to laugh too but the air in his lungs is stuck and he’s too busy replaying Kuroo’s words in his head and coming up with Shouyou, Shouyou, Shouyou, Shouyou. 

“What has he been saying about me?” he manages to say without choking over the feeling of small demon hands gripping his heart. “Is it—”

As soon as the words leave his lips, he regrets them. Kuroo was testing him, playing with him in a way Atsumu is always foolish enough to fall for. It always involves other people’s opinions of him and Kuroo is quick to tug on the loose threads hanging unanswered in Atsumu’s mind. 

Shouyou is probably the most important threat right now, and Atsumu’s more than scared about what’s at the end.

“Oh, oh, oh.” Kuroo chants, a teasing edge to his voice. “Why do you want to know so bad? What if I told you he’s been telling me how annoying you are, how you cling to him whenever you meet.”

Atsumu frowns so hard he’s sure his eyebrows touch. “He hasn’t—I do not do any of that.” 

“Mmmh maybe, but he has been talking about you a lot.” he settles without at the end, no further comment before he jumps into another conversation with Osamu about something Atsumu can’t be bothered to pay attention too.

“Okay.” he wants to say something else, just anything more but the words get stuck tainting his tongue like a curse. 

When did it begin, Atsumu wonders, his fall from grace.

☾

Two months pass by with a curse on Atsumu’s tongue, it’s heavy and burns like the shine of the elders’ halo’s when they summon him with new orders. It’s not the curse of a demon but it is black and red, and maybe a little orange, and has Atsumu tripping over words while fingers brush gently over his cheek.

There are nights when red eyes linger longer than the rule book says they should when, and Atsumu’s hands find themselves on the small of another person back as they lay on a hillside in a valley he doesn’t know the name of. Atsumu reveals in it. 

It’s early in the morning, and neither he or Osamu want to be up while the sun is still rising but they’ve been summoned. But, he’s got something to confess and it’s probably a long time coming. 

“I want to see him,” Atsumu confesses to Osamu, or to himself, he’s not sure at this point.

He’s not sure of a lot of things he’s usually sure of, one being how he managed to get any sleep last night when he kept waking up from dreams of cheeky smiles and soft bites to the back of his neck. 

Osamu looks over at him from where he’s messing with his halo in the mirror. “You just saw him three days ago, but okay.” 

“No, I want to see him,” he pushes on, sliding further down his seat. “Properly, like those two.” he gestures towards the door like that means Kuroo and Kenma. 

He’ll understand, maybe, sometimes he’s out of tune with the world around him.

“You’ve kissed? Do you like him?” 

“Yeah,”

There’s a second of silence before a soft laugh and then, another second before his brother is bumping his shoulder into his as he moves away from the mirror and into the kitchen, “Guess we’re gonna have to cause some trouble then.”

Atsumu stares and Osamu ignores him, already moving to make himself some coffee. “That’s it?” 

“What?” 

“No drama?” he questions, eyebrows raising in confusion as he watches his brother simply reach for the eggs as if he has not just asked for something stupid as fuck. “No, you are going to get pushed out of heaven and then I’ll have to come down with you because we’re twins.” 

“That is not how that would work,” Osamu answers mildly, cracking two eggs into the pan. “You’re making it sound like you’re planning a revolution. Kenma makes out with a demon every other day.” 

“That’s Kuroo, he’s barely a demon.” 

“Well,” he continues, voice bored and reaction as lukewarm as could be during Atsumu’s trying times. “I think it’ll turn out fine in the end, I wouldn’t let you do anything if I thought otherwise.”

Atsumu swallows, “What if it does go wrong?”

There’s no hesitation, not a single missed beat despite the knots in the thread that connects their lives, “Then, I think I'll open up my own cooking business in the mortal world, what do you think?” 

Atsumu thinks he’s lucky. He also thinks he should start robbing more of his brother’s home-cooked food before he starts selling it to other people and leaves him to survive on his own. 

But, mostly that he’s lucky — maybe.

☾

On one of the warmest nights of the year so far, Atsumu gets goosebumps.

“Even though we were together two days ago, I missed you,” Shouyou whispers into the curve of his neck from where they’re sitting with Atsumu’s wings curled around them. “It’s weird.”

It is weird. He doesn’t know when over the months they’ve known each other they broke that boundary and ended up with their threads tangled but they are, and there’s too many knots in it for them to separate now. It was some time during the second month when Shouyou was hovering above him, fingers tipping his chin up for their first kiss, a goodbye kiss in the context of them parting ways. 

Atsumu had pulled him down to the ground, and kissed him again, and again, and again, on his lips, cheek and forehead. And, since then they keep finding each other like this.

“Are you sure you're really a demon?” he whispers into Shouyou’s hair, pressing a soft kiss there. 

But, neither of them have been brave enough to say anything more about what this is — even though he’s resolved to — he wants to tonight.

Warm breath flutters across his ear, it makes Atsumu’s stomach roll. “Are you sure you’re really an angel?” 

He has no questions about whether Shouyou is a demon or not at times like this. “What, you don’t think I’m angelic enough?” 

The wind is picking up again, but it’s warm despite them sitting along the sea wall watching the ocean. There’s the noise of a fairground and it’s music somewhere in the distance, and Atsumu only notices this because the colours it’s creating are reflected in Shouyou’s eyes. 

He’s getting sappy, it’s a little disgusting. But it’s only for Shouyou, so it’s worth it.

“I already said I wish you could be my angel, didn’t I?!” Shouyou stares for a moment, then breaks into a smile that crinkles the apple of his cheeks. “Plus, that depends on what angelic means?”

“Good, pretty, amazing, hmmm…” Atsumu lists half-heartedly, half truthfully. He runs his hand up and down Shouyou’s side as he does, over his hip. 

“Well, then I guess you’re very angelic!” he smiles, shifting, tucking himself more into his side.

Hinata Shouyou is going to be the death of him. He knows it, it’s been a good 3000 years but his time is up and he can’t even be mad about it, aside from the fact that death would mean giving up kissing him.

Maybe, their next kiss will be the cause of his death. People have always said Atsumu has a thing for the dramatics, he neither agrees nor disagrees with them talking about his ego or that statement. 

“If that really were the criteria, you’d be an angel too.” 

Shouyou considers this for a moment, blush high on his cheeks before shaking his head, “Do you wish I was one?”

Atsumu moves to rest his chin in Shouyou’s hair, and for once, considers his next words for more than a minute. He wants to tell him tonight but maybe, he thinks, biting down on his tongue, maybe he doesn’t have to, maybe just this is okay.

“No, no,” Atsumu sucks in a slow breath and sighs it out, muscles being forced to relax, then tensing all over again. “We’re fine as we are.”

He means it, he can say that now. Shouyou as an angel is nice in theory, but Shouyou is Shouyou because his eyes are made up of fields of red roses, his heart is made up of the burning rays of the sun — it’s a steady warmth that Atsumu has come to find comforting — and he’s good. He’s good without being forced to be good, without the rhythm or reason the elders’ force into you if you’re unlucky enough to be born an angel. 

He’s just _good_ , and Atsumu leans down to bring him into a kiss to remind him of that fact. 

Once upon a time, he would have wished for Shouyou to carry white wings on his back but now there’s a knot in his chest threatening to unravel. Atsumu holds onto each tug tighter and creates a new one with black thread. 

They’re _fine_ as they are for now — it doesn’t feel like a fall from grace at all, it just feels a lot like love, a lot like warmth.

☾

There's a wind alive in the valley  
It will fill your lungs, if you'll have it  
— the oh hellos, ‘thus always to tyrants’ 

**Author's Note:**

> this is my first hq fic so I’m extra nervous and also extra extra nervous bc I’m not sure I wrote atsuhina that well ah...but it was fun even if it was hard!
> 
> I wanted to just leave it with a hopeful ending, it might not be a sad or happy one in some ppls eyes but it’s kind of meant to be their start, the real beginning of atsumu’s fall. 
> 
> i hope you enjoyed it u__u anyway comments about what u thought and kudos are all appreciated!!
> 
> talk to me!! [twitter](https://twitter.com/kazkiis?s=21) and here [tumblr](https://shiukami.tumblr.com/)  
> 


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